William Tell Apple Thank You Gifts

There is a wonderful archery program in my area for kids. The coaches give so much every week, I wanted to say "Thank You" with a fun gift. Something that would be a nice trophy almost, and hit the mark. Perhaps an apple that William Tell would approve of...?

My typical wood turning projects are flat laminations for color banding. Turning the layers into a bullseye seemed a nice challenge.

Tools

I worked on one of the lathes at the South Bend Makerspace, a typical bench top one with more than 4" clearance.

It was very helpful to also use their drill press, this ensured very straight bore-holes, for very good glue-ups.

Forstner bits in 1.5" , 1" and 0.5" sizes for the holes.

I used a hole saw that had an inside diameter of +1.5" which was probably marketed as a 1.75" outside diameter hole saw. I was lucky it was pretty close, only needing a bit of help later.

Normal woodworking glue AND dark woodworking glue (for the walnut layup).

A rubber mallet to tap the plugs into place.

Nice 24" clamps from the makerspace for each layup, as the dowels would try to push out while drying.

Belt sander to smooth face down before turning.

Sandpaper in 80, 150 and 200 grits.

A deft little craft paintbrush for the red treatment.

Some painter's tape to make a circular paint mask.

A circular paper cutting tool to help create an accurate diameter and uniform circle.

Lasercutter to engrave a note of thanks in the bottom.

Respirator to avoid inhaling wood dust during sanding.

Dremel rotary tool with sanding drums.

Polycrylic clear spray on finish.

Woods

The fun part was having a great excuse to go to my local, high end woodworking shop Johnson's Workbench, great people with a smorgasbord of exotic woods!

The basic idea was to use different colors of woods for each ring, to simulate an archery target.

I started with a 4" by 4" block of solid poplar, specifically cut for woodturning. (4 of them to be exact, for 4 gifts for 4 coaches).

I found a board of 1" thick Padauk, which has a very nice red color. In time, this may turn brown, but it will still contrast nicely. *I could not get an exotic 1.5" diameter wood dowel, so I resorted to making my own plugs from a board.

Not wanting to make too many, too small plugs, I opted for a typical 1" maple dowel next. It is different enough from the poplar, especially in it's end grain.

Lastly, dark walnut dowels in 0.5" diameters are not too hard to find, and I grabbed one for the bullseye.

That only makes 4 rings, and typical archery targets have 5 different colored rings. But I wanted to color the outside of the apple in apple colors, so I used samples of good craft paints, mostly red, white, purple and brown (to not get pink) to create the last color which was the apple red.

To attach the stems I used a bamboo skewer (i.e. very small dowel).

Laminating plugs is straightforward, even nested glue ups.

1. Mark the center point, for later help drilling on center.
2. Drill the appropriate holes, working from the outside inward.
3. (Make Padauk Plugs with hole saw. Sand to slightly loose fit.)
4. Apply glue liberally to bottom of hole, then sides and the outside of the plug.
5. Tap into place with a rubber mallet.
6. Clamp on center with clamps, applying good pressure.
7. Wait a week for a good setup (i.e. come back next weekend).
8. Repeat
9. Repeat (using dark glue for the walnut plug)

Finally, take the whole face down smooth on a belt sander. I didn't want to risk the wood gouges hitting a thin cylinder of padauk and cracking it lengthwise into the layup. So taking everything to a nice flat face was the best I could do to protect the fragile rings.

Turning was a joy! The poplar is really a nice wood to work with and smooths like butter. The padauk has a really nice smell when you start roughing it. Almost like a pipe. In fact, I initially was worried it was not safe, but a quick check indicated it is fine and other woodworkers enjoy the smell too (unless you are allergic.)

I turned the project on a mounting plate, which allowed me to shape the entire top. This did result in a larger apple than originally planned, but this was a good thing in the end.

After the major work was done, I sanded using 80, 150, and 200 grit paper. Again a very pleasant work time. However, I used a good respirator during this work to keep from inhaling sawdust. There was alot of it!

I tried a few prototypes and made a few mistakes. All in a day's work.

To get both the red skin of an apple and my last ring, I mixed up an red color that worked for my eyes. To get it a bit "chalky" but not pink, add some purple and brown as necessary. If I revisit this project, I'm going to make a yellow and a green apple...

To ensure an accurate ring, I carefully made a circular paint mask from painters tape. Because the surface is curved, there will be slight wrinkling when applied. I used a wooded dowel to almost burnish the tape down as tight and as smooth as I could. Like lots of wood working, there were slight imperfections, but at normal holding distance, they are not noticeable.

I decided to rub off some of the paint to allow the wood grain to show more. After letting the paint dry a bit, I used a rough, but clean shop rag to pull off the extra paint.

Threw a little black on the tiny stems, but I was planning to cover that later.

I did a few rounds of spray on Polycrylic. My dad has two different outcomes for finishing: either looking perfect, or feeling perfect. A little bumpy-ness seemed more fitting to these apples, which are almost meant to be eaten :) I actually tested this on several friends and colleagues and the more organic finish was clearly the favorite. I went with that.

Pretty easy, if you have access to a laser. South Bend Makerspace has a good one and off I went to inscribe a thank you. They are running Lightwave software which makes it easy to place text on a circular path.

After a check on cardboard for fit and legibility, I had some tweaks to font kerning.

Getting the apples upside down was accomplished by making a shop-towel donut to set them in, bottom-up. Ready to laser!

Done!

I probably burned too deep, due to poplar and it's end grain. No worries, but next time I will remember to reduce the power.

Finally hit the bottoms with Polycrylic and made sure to seal the inscriptions.

The "stems" from turning were too smooth, small and almost abstract. I decided to replace with some of the leftover walnut dowel.

Using a rotary tool with sanding drums, it was easy, but delicate work reduce the stems to a flat space.

To give the stems a more natural look, I distressed and gouged the dowel using a Dremel with drum sanding bits. No pattern or planning.

I then cut pieces and drilled out a hole for a bamboo rod to connect.

Most stems were too long once inserted, so I trimmed them to what felt right.

Finished!